Practical characterization of PBGA substrates for broad bandwidth high frequency operation

Organic laminate substrates for many MCM-L applications are expected to deliver acceptable signal integrity at frequencies approaching 1 GHz. The higher signal transmitting frequencies are required by new integrated circuit (IC) designs that constantly deliver greater functionality. If the system level electrical performance goals are to be met, PBGA (plastic ball grid array) package formats serving as the MCM-L platform must provide low loss, broad bandwidth signal paths between the IC's contained within, and the printed circuit board (PCB). This paper has two objectives. The first is a comparison of two different test methods that evaluate the package level signal parasitics of inductance and capacitance, with a second objective to determine if absorbed moisture will have an obvious effect on the electrical performance of laminate substrates.